Page:History of Greece Vol XII.djvu/460

 428 HISTORT OF GREECE. have alrcatlj seen, that though he had gained victories^ and seized rich plunder, he had not been able to provide even regular pay for his soldiers, whose fidelity was consequently precarious. Nor could he expect reinforcements from Sicily ; where his power was on the whole declining, though Syracuse itself was in less danger than before. He therefore resolved to invoke aid from Ophelias at Kyreno and despatched Orthon as envoy for that purpose. ^ To Kyrene and what was afterwards called its Pentapolis (i. e. the five neighboring Grecian towns, Kyrene, its port Apollo- nia, Barka, Teucheira, and Hesperides), an earlier chapter of this histoiy has already been devoted.^ Unfortunately informa- tion respecting them, for a century and more anterior to Alexan- der the Great, is almost wholly wanting. Established among a Libyan population, many of whom were domiciliated with the Greeks as fellow-residents, these Kyreneans had imbibed many Libyan habits in war, in peace, and in religion ; of which their fine breed of horses, employed both for the festival chariot- matches and in battle, was one example. The Libyan tribes, useful as neighbors, servants, and customers,^ were frequently also troublesome as enemies. In 413 b. c. we hear accidentally that Hesperides was besieged by Libyan tribes, and rescued by some Peloponnesian hoplites on their way to Syracuse during the Athenian siege.* About 401 B. c. (shortly after the close of the Peloponnesian war), the same city was again so hard pressed by the same enemies, that she threw open her citizenship to any Greek new-comer who would aid in repelling them. This invi- tation was accepted by several of the Messenians, just then ex- pelled from Peloponnesus, and proscribed by the Spartans ; they went to Africa, but, becoming involved in intestine warfare among the citizens of Kyrene, a large proportion of them per- ished.5 Except these scanty notices, we hear nothing about the Greco-Libyan Pentapolis in relation to Grecian affairs, before ' Diodor. xx. 4P. - See Vol. IV. Ch. xxvii. p. 29-49. spot judiciously chosen for colonization ; the natives near it being not dan- gerous, but suited for obedient neighbors and slaves.
 * See Isokrates, Or. iv. (Philipp.) s. 6, where he speaks of Kyrene as n
 * Thucyd. vii. 50. *Pausan. iv. 26 ; Diodor. xiv. 34.